by R. J. Ross
"Why can't you? Is it because you were a super villain a while back?"
The less he knows, the better, Nico decides. "Yeah, they might not believe I've gone straight. I don't want the Hall coming after me just because of that. What's your name?" he asks.
"I don't know if I should trust you with that information," Taurus Sr. says, a narrowed eyed look on his face. "I don't think I should trust you at all, honestly. And helping some super villain work against the Hall isn't likely to get me IN the Hall, now is it?"
"You've got a point," Nico admits, frowning. "How about this--I don't want to be found by the majority of the Hall, but I'd be willing to talk to Double M--er, Mastermental. Maybe I can get something sorted out for you. Get you put in one of the other branches--"
"First you say you're an ex super villain, now you say you've got ties with the second in command of the Hall?" He snorts. "Are you trippin’?"
"Let's go find him and you'll find out for yourself," Nico says. He has to do it fast, he thinks. The last thing he needs is for Superior to kill off Mimic. Everything would change in the future. And he'd finally gotten life to how he liked it!
CHAPTER THREE
He's staring at me. Grandpa ran off to do something, just leaving me here with Jason, waiting for him to return--and Jason is sitting there, staring at me with a dark look on his face. "This is all your fault," he says abruptly.
"What? How is this all my fault?" I demand.
"You're the stupid idiot that ran off time traveling before we started school!" he says. "You could have just waited, but noooo, you had to run off! And I shouldn't have been dragged back here just because the freakin' PRINCESS decided that she was too good for school!" He's on his feet now, nose to nose with me.
"Your breath stinks," I say, not about to back down even though every single piece of me wants to.
"Yeah, well YOU stink!" he growls. "What were you thinking? That Cape High wasn't good enough for you?"
"If you're going there, it definitely isn't!" I yell. Oh man, lightning's going to come down and hit me for a lie that big--and I wouldn't blame it. My mom's school! The school my grandpa built! I--
I grunt as he punches me in the stomach, sending me flying back through the air. I lay where I land for a moment, getting my breath back as I stare at him in shock. "You punched me?" I ask.
"Yeah," he says, his fists still up, "I did. Now, since you're such a special little girl--" the sneer on that sentence really makes me mad, by the way, "what are you gonna do about it?" he demands.
I--I'm getting my powers now, right? That punch didn't kill me, although it hurt--but I can take him. I can absolutely take him! I push to my feet, dusting the dirt off of my skirt and bringing up my fists. That makes him laugh--at least it does until I plant my fist in his face, sending him back a few feet and into a tree.
"Not so funny now, is it?" I demand, only to wince and wave my hand. That hurt! You're not supposed to hurt HITTING the other person, are you? It's because his head is so hard, I decide. He gets up, wiping away a tiny bit of blood from his mouth.
"That all you got?" he demands. "You think that sort of punch is going to take me down? You'd be wrong, curls. I'm the next Cold Steel!" He launches himself at me and I barely dodge, getting hit in the arm instead of the chest. I twist, grabbing him and tackling him to the ground.
We roll around, not getting any good punches in but messing up our clothes and getting extremely dirty. He pins me to the ground finally, and pulls back a fist. "This is all your fault!" he snarls. "I've been waiting my entire LIFE to get into Cape High, only to have you pull this stupid stunt--"
"I'VE WAITED JUST AS LONG!" I bellow, tears starting to fall. "I've waited just as long as you have! I just never got--never got my powers," I admit, wiping futilely at the tears. "They never came--I'm about to turn fourteen and they still weren't showing up--"
He's gone perfectly still, a stunned look on his face. "What?" he finally says a bit stupidly.
"I never got my powers until--until I was kidnapped by some freak from our time that came back in time, who abandoned me even FURTHER back in time!" I tell him. "Get off," I add, shoving him off of me. I turn away from him as soon as I can sit up, not wanting him to see me cry.
"Start from the beginning," he orders. He hasn't even apologized for punching me, the jerk.
"I have no reason to," I tell him snottily, only to ruin it by sniffing.
"Start from the beginning and I'll fix your bruises," he mutters. I look back at him, a bit shocked. "What? I can heal a little--nothing big, like my mom, but a little. What happened? Why are we in the past?"
"I... um..." I look down guiltily. "I wanted to see what I looked like with powers," I say slowly. "So I used the time traveling watch to go into the future... but--" I hear it all pouring out of my mouth, all the details, even the stupid ones like telling Vinny that men in the future wear panties--Jason laughs his head off at that one--and then watching as Grandpa Nico from that time was beaten by Mimic, and how Mimic abandoned me in this time.
I don't even like Cold Steel and I just got in a fist fight with this guy, so WHY am I telling him all of this? I've got no clue, but he's listening to all of it, even asking questions when I try to gloss things over. And when I'm finished he comes over and places a hand on my arm. His eyes turn white and I suddenly feel a little better--still sore, but a little better. I watch him as he moves away, frowning. "Why did he drag you back in time, though?" I ask. "I mean, I know why I'm being taught back here... but why are you?"
"I don't know, it's irritating," he mutters, looking around with a scowl. "I had it all planned out, too. I'd start school, get a super villain girlfriend, start playing Superball--it was going to be awesome. But no, I'm stuck in the past with the Princess of Cape High."
"Why do you call me that?" I demand.
"Your mom's the principal, right?"
"Well, yeah, but--"
"And your old man's the head of Central Hall, right?"
"Yeah, but--"
"And you're the grandkid of both Mastermental and Technico, right?"
"Yeah, but that doesn't make me a princess!"
He stares at me. "They probably have your Prom Queen crown measured already," he drawls. "Technico shoulda brought Tristan back instead of me. Tristan woulda been perfect."
"Tristan?" I repeat.
"My cousin," he says, "my perfect little Liberty cousin--Liberty's kid. You two coulda been a matched set--well, other than he's a blonde," he adds with a shrug. "But no, I get stuck back here with the princess while he's probably flirting with all the cute ones. Man this sucks."
"If you're so quick to punch a girl, you wouldn't have any luck, anyway," I snap. He's irritating me. "It's probably because you're an elementalist," I add. "My cousins are most likely going to be that, too, but they're too young to start school."
"What's wrong with being an elementalist?" he demands. "It's no reason to send me back in time!"
"You'll probably destroy massive areas of land," I tell him, waving a hand in the air. "You're dangerous, and since it's metal it might be worse--you'll have long buried weapons coming out of the ground. You might even get stabbed to death," I tell him.
He... doesn't look worried like I was hoping for. "That'd be AWESOME," he breathes out, his eyes gleaming in anticipation. "I mean, Dad does stuff sort of like that, but usually it's just calling his airboard and other work stuff. Except he made me an absolutely killer playground when I was little. Only problem was the really hot days."
"Really hot days?"
"Yeah, I used to take eggs out and cook them on the slide," he says with a shrug.
"That can't be sanitary," I mutter, easily picturing it.
"So?"
"Did you EAT them?" I ask.
"Sometimes, other times they got too burnt."
"You should have used oil."
"I'll remember that next time."
***
The view below Superior is oddly familiar. T
his time doesn't seem as far behind him as one would think--then again, those twenty years of being unconscious, or dead, or whatever you want to call them, had cut a lot of the time difference out. Superior can see all of America from where he floats, the gorgeous sunset, the rolling hills, the glorious mountains, the beautiful land that he still loves. The norms only get to see this view when up in an airplane. That's a terrible loss, he thinks. Seeing it plainly without anything blocking the panorama is the best way to go.
A part of him knows this is dangerous. At any time one of the old Hall members could notice him and decide he's an unknown, perhaps even a threat. The last thing he needs is to get into a fight with the old gang. They wouldn't recognize him with the hair and clothing he's wearing. He'd not been joking about the cloning thing.
His best bet is to find Mimic--wherever he is--and kill him. With Mimic dead no one would even realize that Tatia is being targeted. She and the Superior of this time will continue their lives peacefully, living out the lives he'd always planned on having. Two or three kids, a dog, white picket fences.
A tiny tear trickles down his cheek and he jerks, shocked by the sensation. He's crying? Why? He is Superior! Superior doesn't cry! Superior changes things--he makes things right!
"I must ask who you are," a cold, but so familiar voice says behind him. "This is not my country, but it is my responsibility. I will not allow unknown supers to have their way with it."
His heart jerks in his chest, slamming against his ribs. His hands go clammy. Pathetic, a part of him whispers, but he can't help it. He had mocked love in front of his children, mocked the people so obsessed with it. But here he is, still in love with a woman that as good as died thirty six years ago. He turns slowly, looking at the woman confronting him. She's as beautiful and awe-inspiring as he remembered.
"Who are you and why do you have my husband's face?" Tatiana demands, her fists coming up.
One of the reasons he had loved her, he remembers abruptly, is that in a fist fight without using his special abilities she would probably beat him fifty percent of the time.
That... ah... might not be a good thing at the moment, he admits silently.
***
Night comes. I expect Grandpa to take us to our own time, I'm hoping for it, really, but all he does as he gets back is pull out a few tents and sleeping bags. I feel like crying as they pop into form and he starts a fire. "But--but I really need a shower," I say as he gets out cans of beans and a pot.
He looks at me for a moment before pulling out his cell phone. It scans me with a green light and he looks at the screen for a moment. "You can go to the Hall tomorrow and get a shower," he says. "Tonight you're not going anywhere."
"I want a shower, too," Jason says. He twitches as the phone is pointed at him and the green light scans his body. "What's that thing doing, anyway?" he asks.
"I'm checking your power readouts," Grandpa says, looking at his phone. "You can go to the Hall with her--but not until tomorrow. Now who wants dinner?"
"Are beans all you brought?" I ask, feeling as if bugs are crawling over my skin.
"There's a bag of hotdogs and buns in the ice chest," he says. "Sharpen a stick and cook your own hotdog."
"Cool," Jason says, heading for the ice chest in question. "So uh... is there something wrong with me?" he asks with his back still to us. "You know, cuz of the readout and... the blacking out thing."
"You blacked out?" I ask.
"It's not funny--"
"I did, too," I say before he can try and punch me again. "All of a sudden the tire swing was floating and I... blacked out," I say, shrugging my shoulders and looking at the pot of beans now hanging over the fire.
"Yeah, it's that," Grandpa says. "Both of you are coming into your powers a bit less gradually than we'd like. It's expected, I'll probably be dealing with the same problems when Sunny's kids get older. For now, though, we've got a nice, empty bit of land to keep norms from being hurt. I want you to see something before we wrap this up and go home."
"Did my parents go through this?" I ask curiously as Jason brings back the bag of hotdogs. I start searching for a stick.
"Your mother had a few issues," Grandpa says, “mostly when she got emotional. She blew up a lot of things, sure, but she was surrounded by capes for the most part, and it was a lot smaller group than we have at your school now. Your dad, well, he was one of the rare kids that have powers at birth."
"So were you," I say.
"How did you know that?" he asks curiously.
"I've met you--er, two year old you. You picked me up like I weighed nothing."
"You're not wrong," he says slowly, pulling out a knife to sharpen a stick and hand it to me. "But you're not exactly right, either. I didn't start flying until I was fifteen, and my technopathy came in spurts until puberty. Your mom blew up things for half a year or so, I blew things up for thirteen. Thankfully during this time there's not nearly as much high tech stuff as there is in the future."
I take one of the hotdogs from the pack and stick it on the stick, holding it over the fire.
"You're too close," Jason says. "You need to pull it away more, otherwise it'll burn."
"It's my hotdog," I tell him. "I can burn it if I want to."
"There's a relation between you two," Grandpa says. "Jack got his super powers from Grandma Summer, you know. That makes you two... a bit like cousins, I'd say. Considering that, maybe you two will be able to eventually see eye to eye. Or at least try."
I look at Jason. I really didn't need to know that fact. From the look on his face, he thinks the exact same thing.
***
"So you're going to sneak into the Hall, find Mastermental, bring him out here to convince me that you're not actually kidnapping a kid--" Taurus Sr. says, frowning as he tries to sort it out.
"No, you're going in and demanding to talk to Mastermental," the Nico from 2014 says. They're sitting in a diner about half a block away from the Central Hall, eating dinner. He takes another bite of his cheeseburger before going on. "You can't lie to him, so don't bother, just tell him that you have a guy that says he needs to talk to him. Tell him you don't trust me--think I might be a super villain, even, but you're not sure enough to try and take me out. He'll be curious, especially if he reads your mind."
"You're crazy, white boy," Taurus Sr. says bluntly.
"Probably, but this is the perfect excuse to talk to Mastermental, isn't it?"
Taurus Sr. hesitates. "You probably think I'm a sell-out, don't you? Wanting to be part of an establishment."
"They save people. You've got powers, you want to use them to do what they do, right? Your son--" Nico curses himself.
"My what?" Taurus Sr. asks. "Who do you think I am, exactly?"
"Just another cape," Nico says, trying to blow it off as he finishes his burger. "Look, we need to move."
"I ain't got a son, you know," Taurus Sr. says. "You got me confused with someone else--"
"No, I don't," Nico says as he tosses a tip on the table, then curses as he realizes it's a new bill. Before he can grab it, though, Taurus Sr. does, picking it up and staring at it. He looks from the bill to Nico, then back down again.
"My son," he says after a moment. "What's he like?"
Nico hesitates before letting out a sigh. "I'll tell you--after you go talk to Mastermental for me." Taurus Sr. digs out his wallet and tosses a few bills on the table, pocketing the one Nico had put down.
"What are you waiting for?" he asks, heading for the door. "Let's go to the Hall." Nico follows, not bothering to look around. He's finally on the right track--except he let too much slip. Hopefully that doesn't change the future.
Then again one lost five is nothing compared to if his father gets his way.
They head silently down the street and he slips into an alleyway to wait as Taurus Sr. strolls in.
He's not a praying man, he tends to leave that sort of thing to Ken and his family, but right now he looks up at the sky. "Please let t
his not be too late," he mutters, the image of his little sister firmly in the forefront of his mind.
***
"I do not take kindly to clones!" Tatiana bellows before slamming her shoulder into Superior's gut and sending them both crashing through the building behind him. He can't help but remember that scene with the illusion of her. Tatia is far more aggressive over this matter than he ever would be, he admits silently as they hit ground level.
He shoves her off before returning the favor, slamming into her and taking them both into the air. This fight can't go on much longer, he thinks. He doesn't want to hurt her, though, and he can't use his distortion abilities, because they'd bring up too many questions. So...
Faking his death looks to be the best way out.
***
Nico scowls as he lurks in the shadow, watching people going in and out of the Hall--the Hall that looks a lot different from the one in 2014. It seems like forever since Taurus Sr. went in, but he knows it's only been a few minutes. He should be grateful that the man hasn't been tossed out yet, he tries to tell himself. Unfortunately, he doesn't believe it.
The door opens and he stops breathing as the black man steps out slowly. "You're sure? Not until tomorrow?" Taurus Sr. asks. "Fine, but if he winds up killing people, it's not my fault, understand?" He steps out of the building, looking around. "Didn't work," he says as Nico steps slightly out of the shadow, "Mastermental's out for the day and Superior's still overseas."
"I wouldn't want Superior even if he was here," Nico mutters, feeling a headache coming on. He goes perfectly still as he hears a crash in the distance.
"What was that?" Taurus Sr. asks, looking around.
"I've got nothing better to do--let's go find out," Nico says, starting to run towards the sound.
"Son?"
The sound of his father's voice makes Nico inwardly curse and dig out his earbud from his pocket. It had been easy enough to set the earbuds to run off of their own power, since bringing them this far in the past would cause them to short out--he'd just figured that Superior wouldn't bother to use his. "What?" Nico demands.
